One of the Guys
by mythweaver1
Summary: FFIV Post-TAY. Izayoi can't help herself. She's just one of the guys.


A/N: Ohhhh deeeear…at it again ;P

And apparently I wanted to write a duel :)

Please bear with me whilst I indulge in more of a guilty pleasure.

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One of the Guys

"I don't understand why you need all of this. It's not as if you do anything dangerous," Izayoi said with a roll of the eyes, holding up Kain's sparring gear in her hand.

"Everything is dangerous for a left-handed person," he remarked without looking at her, hoisting his spear into his hand and tossing it a few times for balance.

Izayoi sauntered across the practice ring toward the dragoon, digging into the loose dirt with the tip of her boot. She held a wooden practice sword in her right hand, and tossed Kain's leather armor to him with her left. It kicked up a cloud of dust where it landed at his feet.

Kain glanced down at the armaments and then kicked them aside.

Izayoi raised a brow. "You've decided you don't need them?"

A faint grin crept onto his face. "It's not as though I do anything dangerous."

Izayoi smirked, twirling the wooden sword in her hand. It felt right when she rolled it over her knuckles and back into her palm—light, but not too light.

"Are you going to stop playing with that thing and face me honestly, or would you like to indulge your vanity some more?" he asked.

"I'm ready whenever you're done admiring your spear," she answered with a wicked grin.

Kain looked at her from under his brows, adjusting his stance. Izayoi watched him closely. He was much taller than she and more cumbersome in his movements, but could be surprisingly swift when it suited him. Lately he had been preferring to fight with less armor, and his motions had picked up in speed, enough for him to be a challenge for the more fleet footed ninja.

He lunged, sweeping for her legs, and she jumped back to avoid the attack. It was a half-hearted assault, and she set her hand against her hip in annoyance. "Is that all?" she scolded.

He bolted forward with his spear, keeping it parallel to the ground, and she sidestepped. He jabbed, and she bent backwards, her hair grazing her heels while the spear tip whistled overhead. He swung wide and she rolled.

"So slow, old man!" she goaded him, as he dug the tip of the spear into the dust and then flicked the tip upwards in an arc that showered her completely.

He was playing the field to his advantage, but all Izayoi had to do was clear the debris and—he was gone. She frowned, knowing what this meant. She checked the ground for a shadow and found one, sprinting out of the way as the spear embedded itself into the earth inches from where she'd been standing. Kain landed beside it a moment later. He hoisted the spear out of the ground and prepared to strike again, but Izayoi was tired of dodging. This time, she took the offensive.

She ducked underneath another thrust of his spear, rolling forward and under the attack, and supplied a hard blow closer to the mid-shaft of his weapon. It would jar his grip, she knew, and force him to correct his balance. He did just that. She put on a burst of speed, running into his wingspan, too close for him to counterattack, and jabbed her wooden sword into his in-step. He stumbled and reached for her with his other arm, but she pivoted and ducked, striking the hand holding his weapon with a back-handed blow. The wood cracked hard on his knuckles and he hissed, dropping the spear to the ground.

Izayoi felt confident, until he pivoted as well, stepping around her so that it became her turn to correct her stance. She became so preoccupied with dodging the strikes from his elbows, that she was unable to move her feet fast enough. He successfully landed a blow to her solar plexus, causing her to crumple inwards while he wrenched her sword free of her fingers and threw it several feet away.

She broke free of his hold and jumped back a few steps, assessing the situation. Spear and sword were both on the ground and within reasonable distance, but there was something more interesting about hand to hand combat. She lunged again, aiming for his kidney with her hand. She kept her fingers extended, aiming for the bundle of nerves that would make him buckle, but he anticipated her, blocking the strike with his arm, and then reached over with his other hand for hers.

She pivoted again, and he moved with her, the two of them engaged in a dance of sorts, each stepping around the other. Izayoi knew she was a quicker strike than he was, but one blow from him full-on would knock her flat. He knew it too and he smirked.

He quick-stepped, altering the rhythm they had established, and lunged for her chest with the heel of his palm. She deflected, locking arms with him, and used his own momentum to divert the force and drive her backwards. It provided the distance she needed to launch a kick. She aimed high and struck his jaw with the tip of her boot. He grunted, and fell back, and she stood straight again, regaining her composure.

"Cheap hit," Kain muttered, working his jaw.

Izayoi grinned. "You weren't thinking I'd counter so quickly."

They circled each other, and Izayoi then realized the audience they had acquired. Dragoons sat on the wall on one side of the ring, some placing bets. There were jeers, mostly directed at their captain, and Kain's expression became decidedly unamused.

"Come on, captain, you have yet to impress me," Izayoi goaded.

And then he sprang. She wasn't expecting him to throw his whole body at her, and the action caught her off-guard. He grappled her about the shoulders and they both went down. The fall robbed her of breath, as she struggled to free herself from under his weight. He had been clever enough to loop one of his arms with hers, twisting it so that she was in a firm hold. She kicked at his side with her knee, but he pressed down so that she had little room to maneuver.

"Surrender, ninja."

Izayoi struggled and wiggled her chest free of his arm lock. "Never," she wheezed.

She pulled herself upwards, but he tightened his hold on her waist, squeezing the air from her lungs.

"Surrender!" Kain repeated, and admittedly, she was having difficulty breathing let alone escaping his vice-like grip.

She pounded on his shoulders with her fists, but he merely grunted and held on tighter. When she began seeing spots, she tapped the ground. "I submit, I submit," she coughed out.

Kain released her instantly, and she sucked in a deep breath, rolling out from under him. She lay on her stomach and glared at him. "Speaking of cheap moves," she muttered.

He smiled. "Learned them from you."

"Rematch," she huffed, pushing herself to her feet.

Kain pushed himself up to his knees and shook his head at her. "No amount of rematches is going to get you anywhere."

Izayoi smiled until she showed teeth. "Afraid of losing?"

"Get 'er, captain! Don't let her speak to you like that!" his men cheered.

Kain shrugged, climbing to his feet. "It's not you so much as the wrath of your cousin should one hair on your precious head be damaged," he answered.

She arched a brow and shook her head. "My cousin can stay out of it."

"Best out of four?" he inquired.

"I accept," she answered, shaking out her shoulders and widening her stance again.

"No magic," Kain quickly amended.

"Baby."

The dragoons on the wall leaned forward with renewed interest. "Take her out, captain!"

"Ready?" Kain asked, ignoring his men.

"Always," she replied with a grin, launching into another attack.

What was a girl supposed to do, after all-when she was just another one of the guys?

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A/N: Random plots keep breeding for these two…I AM still working on other holiday fics which got backed up on account of me falling face first into plague. No joke, just spent the better part of six days in bed, lol. So…have a quick and random little blurb ;)

Thanks for reading!

~Myth


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